The Phils look to make it four-in-a-row tonight as they match up with the Cleveland Indians. The Phils will send out Roy Halladay (1.71 ERA in his last three starts) against 25-year old Zack McAllister. Both teams come into the game hitting the ball well: the Phillies scored 18 in three games against the Mets while the Indians put up 21 total in four against the Indians.

The biggest storyline today, however, may be Delmon Young‘s 2013 Phillies debut. Young will start tonight at DH and hit fifth behind Ryan Howard.

The current Indians line-up has not seen much of Doc but the folks in the Tribe that have have had much success: Jason Giambi is 22/72 (.306/.375/.486) lifetime against Halladay, making up most of the .282/.354/.453 line-against. Only two Phillies have ever faced McAllister: Michael Young and Ben Revere combine for a .556/.600/.556 line against the righty.

51 Comments

There’s only 1 way to look at these next 6 games, which includes 2 with the Cle Club, and 4 with the Stantonless Fish. Whwn you’ve got Halladay and Lee going against 2 seemingly average righthanders, and then 4 at home against a mediocore Miami club, you can only think 1 way. Quite honestly, you really can’t even think in terms of 5-1. Not that 5-1 would be bad, but this is a moment that almost has to be seized.

When Cliff won the CY in ’08, his ERA was 2.54. Couple years after, I forget when or the exact level it started (somewhere around 3) at, but I set a goal for him to at least touch his 2.54 mark even if he couldn’t stay there. He got down a couple times, then would come back up, then eventually went on a vintage Cliff run that brought him close, then up a little again, and finally blitzed through it. I forget what he closed at, and it was a “pitcher’s year,” but it was a fun sidebar to track.

Along those lines, with KK and Doc having set bases for their season as we get close to the 20% mark, I’ve got challenges for both that we’ll follow in sidebar style. Your mission, Messer Doctor, is to get your ERA, at some point BELOW Kendrick’s. KK at 2.64, has about a 2 run lead. For Kendrick, the goal is to not let Doc pass him. It’s not even about the finish, it’s the during. Do I think the trend will make it interesting? Darn tootin.. And like the Phils quest to take care of business in these 6 games, it continues tonight as Doc keeps coming back from his pathetic start to the year.’

I guess you mean the Royals, and it seems like a what’s the word, microcosm of their season. Lotsa slumps surrounding a few blitzkriegs, like 19 runs through 5 innings against Houston. They’re like many ballclubs. Not consistent offensively, which draws a lot of fan complaints. They’re not straightening their acts out against these 2 pitchers.

just watched this for the first time, been a Phillies fan since 1948 have had 4 162 game tickets since 1972. WHO are you? How can you be part of Phillies nation when your favorite players are all American Leaguers? You must be front runner, lover Seattle in the 90’s now the Phillies? Your guys are posers, far from real Phillies fan. Just trying to make a buck off us. If you had any credibility I would buy in but your both losers, front runner losers. Where were you in 1964 or even the mid 70’s. Let me guess Yankee fans?

So the Phils are down 3 after a trip through the order (plus Jimmy one more time). I’m real curious to see where things stand after they bat through again. McAllister had 8 of 9 first pitch strikes the first time around. We’ll see what seeing a good amount of pitches the first time through translates to.

i know its still early, but i have had enough of ben revere already. you would think if you are going to ground out you would at least bust your tail to first and has a noodle arm in the outfield! on top of that, we gave up worley (i know a #4) and may!

Well, Doc does have 3 K’s, although I’m not sure K’s of Drew Subbs officially count, but they just smacked the ball with wind at the back authority. Truly a disappointing effort tonight, but no point dwelling on it. Besides, maybe it’s not that Cincy is a limited House of Horrors, maybe its the state, or the way things go in Pburgh at times, the entire region.

It would almost be interesting in a sadistic way if this result was happening at the Bank. Be some pretty brutal decibels on the volume meter. I guess ya just write it off as 1 of 162, what else can you do, but this is brutal.

I think we can all agree that Roy’s days of dominance are behind him but he won’t consistently be this bad. He will have his solid starts along with the bad ones. More along the lines of a number 4 or 5 in the rotation guy. Out of respect I can’t see charlie dropping him to that spot though. He will remain the number 2 or 3 starter.

As that’s pretty easily conclusive at ths point, I think it might be more interesting to try to pick a point where that change swung Kendrick’s way. I guess it was that run in August last year because Doc was really struggling even after he came back from injury. I remember KK finishing the year down to earth after that fine run, but this 2013 evidence has prior history.

Anyway, Doc’ll keep fighting ,and KK still has the goal of longer term consistency ahead of him, but he’s doing terrific.

I hope that stretch KK had last year was the point in his career where he finally turned the corner. He has finally developed his changeup to where he can throw it very effectively and use it as an out pitch. For his own sake, and the sake of the team, I hope this is the KK we see for the remainder of this season and beyond. I don’t expect him to sustain the sub-3 ERA, but I will take an ERA in the low to mid 3’s from him any day of the week.

I think what we have seen from Doc so far will be what we get. Ups and downs. A string of solid starts with a doozy or two thrown in. I don’t expect him to consistently have good outings.

Not only is Halladay no longer a dominant pitcher, but over the last seven months that he’s played he’s not even pitched to league average. We’re no longer talking small sample size, we’re talking since spring training of 2012. It’s sad to watch, but he’s basically a number five starter right now.

And it really is sad to see. The man has a lot of pride and wants nothing more than to pitch well can give his team a chance to win.

Every dog has his day, though and he is simply past his prime. The regression was sudden and unexpected though, rather than a slow, steady decline. He has had a great career and is a future HOFer, no doubt.

I got flack for wearing a Phillies shirt in an old-timey general store in Chester County today from the 84-year old clerk. “Washington’s coming down to earth. The Braves have their issues too. The Phils are right back in this thing,” I argued. “Sure, sure. We’ll see,” he dismissed. “Well where you from, then?” I asked him. Born and raised right here, he said. Always liked the A’s back in the day, he said. Still follow them now, even after they moved out West, he said. “When’s the last time those guys won anything?” I scoff. “Gonna win tonight. More than I can say for your team.”

I mentioned in my previous comment about my concern with Ben Revere and his struggles with his bat trying to stay above the “Mendoza Line”.

I will also comment here that I’m losing patience with Domonic Brown as he continues flailing away at pitches with his big loopy swings to the the tune of a .233 BA. It seems he is trying to pull at every pitch regardless of location and we see a number of pop-ups and soft flyouts. Now we are heading into the month of May and those gaudy expectations once thought of him are going sour as the season progresses.

In the meantime, I just did a check on Darin Ruf’s progress in triple A playing for LeHigh Valley. He is getting hot as the weather warms. In the past three games, he had a total of 8 hits in 13 ABs that included 3HRs, 8 RBIs and 3 doubles (smile). He raised his BA to .267 and leads his team with 15 RBIs. I read also that he is improving in playing LF.

I’m rooting for Ruf to have continued success and hopefully he will be call up to the Phillies soon and that may put pressure on Brown to play (and hit) better or face the possibilty of sharing playing time with the newcomer, Darin Ruf (smile).